Controlling hypertension among the black population in the United States continues to be a major problem. The incidence of hypertension is higher, the rate of control is lower, and the likelihood of complications is greater in the black population than in the white population. However, it has been reported that when black hypertensives receive quality care they achieve the same control as whites, and show similiar reduction in mortality/morbidity rates. Increasingly, the black church is being viewed as the most influential institution in the black community. While the church continues to function as a spiritual resource for blacks, it is developing as an institution that is essential for meeting the educational, physical, and social needs of its members. The aim of this study is to utilize the resources of black churches in planning and implementing an educational program for black hypertensives that will continue to grow after the research phase is over. This goal will be achieved by training nurse members of black churches as educational experts to teach hypertensive members of their congregation about their illness. As the project evolves the nurses trained initially will instruct other nurses in the techniques of teaching hypertensives. The Growth of the educational program will be supported by the strengths derived from the strong social system of the black churches. Once nurses are trained, hypertensive members of their congregation will be asked to attend two hour discussion sessions weekly for a total of eight meetings. In order to assess the impact of the program on hypertension control, data will be collected on perceptions of health and illness, stress, coping behavior, knowledge of treatment, diet, weight, and blood pressure. These measures will be taken before the participants begin the discussion sessions, at the end of eight weeks, and three months following. These data will be analyzed using various multivariate techniques, including discriminate function analysis. This analysis will create profiles of participants enrolled in the educational session who achieve positive outcomes in terms of blood pressure control and adjustment to illness, as well as those who do not. The knowledge generated from this study could have a significant impact on the design and testing of educational programs for the management of blacks with hypertension and other health problems.